Imperial China

This Chinese restaurant in the heart of Chinatown is great for dim sum. I usually go to three different dim sum restaurants (the other two being Royal China - either Baker Street or Canary Wharf branches, and Yauatcha), but this one is the most convenient for people to meet up, being so central, and also the cheapest out of the three (making it particularly good for larger groups!). I take all my friends and family there and they all like it very much. It's not easy to find a decent dim sum restaurant in London, and once you find one, it's advisable to stick to it.

I like the dark wood decor, and the interior comes across as clean and subtly stylish with the white table linen, while the staff are welcoming and polite.

There is a wide choice of dim sum, and sadly I always order the same things (why take the risk with new dishes when the favourites are so consistently good?): prawn dumplings (as a child, I was called 'Prawn Dumpling Princess'), prawn and chive dumplings, prawn cheung fun, roast pork cheung fun, egg custard tarts (3 small ones on a plate), steamed spare ribs with black beans, squid cakes with fresh coriander, seafood ho fun noodles and sometimes pork and preserved egg congee. The seafood here is very fresh and the prawns in particular are always firm and crunchy to the bite. £25.00, including service charge, for two people would leave you more than comfortably full at lunchtime.

A word of warning: I had dinner here once and it was atrocious. As we were entertaining a friend visiting from China, I felt very embarrassed and decided never to eat here in the evenings again. Dim sum however is different, as it is prepared by specialist chefs who have nothing to do with the evening meals. And I'm Chinese by the way...

We had a room to ourselves. They gave us privacy and were very good at handling a large crowd. Food... I can't remember!! Drink... lovely.

Disregarding communication difficulties, this place is very enjoyable. Lovely setting, and the prices are well-suited to above-standard food. Very tasty, and good service.

Have had dinner here several times, as a couple or in groups, and always had an excellent time. Delicious food and efficient service.

Unfortunately this was the worst eating out experience of my life. The food was lukewarm and nothing special, the staff and service were unhelpful and frosty, and the bill at the end was unbelievable.

Great service, atmosphere and good food. We had a great time in the karaoke room and will definitely be going back.

They have a November special offer for the karaoke room. Really great - we had fun.

Food was average but the service was quick.

Been twice and had none of the horror stories below. I think it's not far behind Yauatcha in terms of quality of the dim sum, especially the seafood ones. Very clean tastes.

Felt I had to write a balancing review to those of August 2004. Went there Saturday evening for the first time since their big refurbishment and the two of us enjoyed it.

We had not booked so being asked to spend 20 mins in the stylish bar was no hardship, especially as we had our table in half that time. From a shortish menu, containing few surprises outside the Cantonese mainstream, we selected some Chicken and Sweet Corn and Won Ton soups, Lemon Chicken, Fried Squid with Spicy Salt and Pepper, Stir Fried Bok Choy, Plain Noodles and Bean Sprouts and some good sticky boiled rice. All came quickly and had a lightness and freshness of flavour, especially the Lemon Chicken's sauce, that suggested some subtle care in the kitchen. Service was good, friendly and informative without being intrusive - we felt equally welcome despite ordering so few dishes and only cha to follow up our G&Ts from the bar.

If you don't expect cutting edge cooking but do value good service, competent cooking and being able to converse without shouting and a bit more space than usual between tables in Chinatown then you shouldn't be disappointed.

Positively the absolute WORST restaurant I've been to, and I've been to at least 50 in my time. The service was so slow that a snail could beat them on a day off, the food was served badly and tasted dull, the staff don't know what they're doing and the whole experience was so bad that it has prompted me to write a review for the first time. Never again!

The worst restaurant experience I had was yesterday at the Imperial China. We went for dim sum there for the first time, as we needed a change and we were attracted by the deco of the restaurant. From there on it all went wrong. The staff was unhelpful and looked seriously dumb. The spoons were covered with food and had to ask twice to have a clean one. We received a meat dish we never ordered. After 40 minutes of waiting for the rest of our dishes, we were told that they had run out of fish so could not provide one of the dishes we ordered. 20 minutes later, the last dish still had not arrived so I had to cancel it. When I asked for the bill, they said we would have to wait 10 minutes as their computers went down. Lido and Joy King Lau offer much better food and service.

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